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Lüm
Lüm is a service that allows for unique emotional moments in a live performance to be captured and analyzed for artists and businesses involved in the music industry to understand the core values of a live music performance.
The Open Music Initiative Summer Lab is an eight week research fellowship from the month of June to July hosted by globally renowned innovation and design firm, IDEO, and Berklee College of Music’s landmark entrepreneurial program, Berklee ICE. Four teams were challenged to envision a future for music and its industry through the lens of human-centered design, distributed ledgers, and the OMI API. Sallie Xu (Visual Communicator), Michelle Wu (Software Developer), Mitzi Okou (UX Designer), Jonathan Koh (Musician) and Tony Tirador (Music Business) assemble as Team NotTomatoLovers and we were given the brief of cataloguing, attributing, and distributing live DJ mixes.
Live demonstration of lüm at the Open Music Initiative Demo Day hosted by IDEO in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Problem
There is a discrepancy between the interpretation of a live music event from a business perspective and the interpretation from an audience perspective. Live music events are more than ticket sales or bar profits, as the fundamentals of live performances are defined by ethereal moments and the emotional connection between the artist and the crowd. Since this relationship is the foundation of the business around it, owners and operators should have accurate audience information to inform their overall business strategy.
Research
Our team took the angle of translating this relationship into data, and what we found is that profound insights can be made by organizing and interpreting data. By cataloguing and distributing these insights to the greater live music community, we can illuminate new avenues of interaction and uncover hidden truths in the power of live performance.
Documentation of lüm user research and brainstorming.
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Running user testing sessions and documenting responses and feedback.
Ideation and analysis of lüm in relation to the ecosystem of the live music industry.
How Might We?
How might we align business goals within the live music industry by understanding the core artist-audience relationship?
Solution
Lüm is a service that allows for unique emotional moments in a live performance to be captured and analysed for artists and businesses involved in the music industry to understand the core values of a live music performance.
The App for the Audience
At our events, lüm provides a unique live experience for concertgoers to engage themselves further with the music. With user discretion, our app catalogues raw accelerometer data as you dance and holds the data for distribution amongst the multiple layers of live music. Immediately, audience members will find that their aesthetic environment will be affected visually and sonically based upon their particular energy level at that given time. For example, the space could turn blue when energy levels are low and red when energy levels are high, or an airhorn might sound when everyone in the space is dancing vigorously.
On the app, lüm will display your proportional attribution of energy level to the other audience members to see where you place within fan engagement for the night. The DJ performing would then distribute an token, a Lüma, amongst the audience according to each individual’s proportional attribution percentage, with the use of Lüma being defined by the artist. Lüma can possibly be used to buy artist merch, drinks at the bar, or tickets to future lüm events.
Data Visualization for the Artist
With the data lüm collects, DJs will have access to a rich understanding of fans within their crowd. On the DJ’s interface, songs that the DJ plays are timestamped and catalogued into a database where the songs are matched with the crowd’s energy level at the song’s given time in the set. By doing so, lüm will interpret just how that song moves the crowd on the floor, whether it be driving the crowd to the dance floor or moving the crowd to the bar. After the event, lüm will provide a rich insight report for the DJ to see deeper into how they performed that night.
Data Visualization for the Greater Live Music Industry
By using the same data to create the insight report for the artist, lüm nodes will create insight reports tailored to various companies across the live music industry, such as venues, record labels, and music publishers. Businesses who buy these reports can make better informed business and marketing decisions.
To get a full view of each of the data visualizations, please click on the images.
One of my tasks was to design a mockup visualized data report that would be created by lüm and given to and exchanged amongst artists and music businesses.
Back end of lüm
As the core of live music is held between the artist-audience relationship, the data collected is held on a data rights ledger where the artist has the say on how this information is distributed. Monetization of these reports goes directly back to the artist, creating a new revenue stream for artists who use lüm.
Using the OMI API, rightsholders to the tracks played are identified in real-time and licenses are negotiated automatically on the artist’s behalf through the use of smart contracts. Once the tracks are cleared, the live mix is properly prepared to be distributed for monetization and rightful attribution. DJs have no current way to distribute their live mix on streaming platforms, and so lüm provides a robust solution to this ongoing problem.
Live Demonstration
This is the demonstration and presentation of lüm at the Open Music Initiative Demo Day hosted by IDEO in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
*If the video is not playing on this site, please also check it out here! I promise the demo will not disappoint.
The Future of Lüm
Lüm seeks widespread adoption of the product for more accurate data reports. In addition to industry adoption, we plan to integrate other forms of inputs and outputs. Future inputs might include bioanalytic wearables, intelligent venue spaces, machine learning cameras, pills measuring ecstasy, and outputs such as bioreactive lighting, AR/VR performance spaces — the uses of emotion backed data are endless. We also plan to expand our system to other performance formats, such as live bands.
I had the immense pleasure of working in a five interdisciplinary team to create Lüm.